Power generation may be controlled and settled through wholesale market operations driven by pricing and generation control systems driven to meet the demand requirements and economic dispatch. Even though power generation providers are sometimes required to meet certain environmental mandates, such as respecting a yearly quota of greenhouse gas emission level, these environmental criteria are yet to be considered when it comes to controlling and optimizing the power generation of a particular geographical area.
Moving forward, with the expected increased demand of electricity and the growing concerns regarding the environment and the effects of greenhouse gases on the global warming for instance, the wholesale market rules will gradually introduce constraints on the power generation utilities to favor the environmental friendly generating units. This will require changes to the market clearing engine of a market system, as changes to generation control applications located at the generation management system (GMS) to consider additional inputs.